Friday, February 8, 2013

East Dragon, West Dragon



East Dragon, West Dragon
By Robyn Eversole; illustrated by Scott Campbell
40 pages, ages 4 & up
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012

Themes: prejudices, courage, making friends

“East Dragon lived in a palace. West Dragon lived in a cave. East Dragon had golden scales. West Dragon was mossy green, with brown splotches on his belly.”

West Dragon can fly; East Dragon can’t. East Dragon can swim; West Dragon can’t. And each is sure the other is bigger, stronger and very, very fierce. They live on opposite sides of the world and they’ve never met. And they like it that way.  So what happens when they finally meet?

Things I especially love about this book: the way illustrator Scott Campbell imbues each dragon with personality; the kachina-like dragon, the pizza and karaoke… and the way Robyn Eversole manages to bring two dragons together in a common cause.

Beyond the book: Chinese New Year is February 10 and there will be lots of dragon dances. Try drawing your own East Dragon, or grab some colorful plastic cups and make a dragonpuppet.
You can learn more about real dragons – komodo dragons – from San Diego Zoo, and check out this AnimalPlanet video.

This review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy borrowed from the library.

8 comments:

  1. Those illustrations on the front cover are so individual, I love it! Like learning more about dragons!

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    1. the illustrations are so amazing - who knew dragons had such personality?

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  2. What a clever book. Love the theme and am really curious what happens when they meet. Great to link this to the Chinese New Year. Great choice!

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    1. Happy New Year! Even though it's the year of the snake, not dragon. But still...

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  3. Sue this sounds fun and unique. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. This sounds like an interesting approach to learning about tolerance and prejudice. I'd like to see this one.

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  5. I read this one over and over before I had to take it back to the library!

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    1. I did too - and I didn't want to return it! Every time I opened it up I found something new (in the illustrations).

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